Texas man facing execution in shaken baby syndrome case awaits clemency ruling

HOUSTON (AP) — A Texas man who this week could be the first person in the U.S. executed for a murder conviction tied to the diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome awaited a decision Wednesday on his request for clemency from a state board.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles' decision on whether to recommend that Robert Roberson’s execution on Thursday be stopped either through a commutation of his sentence or a reprieve was expected to come on the same day that a Texas House committee was set to meet in Austin to discuss his case.

“We’re going to shine a light on this case for all 31 million Texans to hear and to watch and to see. And we’re hopeful that by Thursday evening, we’re able to secure that pause button in this case,” said state Rep. Jeff Leach, one of the members of the Texas House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee that will meet on Wednesday.

Leach, a Republican, is part of a bipartisan group of more than 80 state lawmakers who have asked the parole board and Gov. Greg Abbott to stop the execution.

Roberson, 57, is scheduled to receive a lethal injection for the 2002 killing of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, in the East Texas city of Palestine. Roberson has long proclaimed his innocence.

Abbott can only grant clemency after receiving a recommendation from the parole board. Under Texas law, Abbott has the power to grant a one-time 30-day reprieve without a recommendation from the board.

In his nearly 10 years as governor, Abbott has halted only one imminent execution, in 2018 when he spared the life of Thomas Whitaker.

The parole board has recommended clemency in a death row case only six times since the state resumed executions in 1982.

Roberson’s lawyers, the Texas lawmakers, medical experts and others say his conviction was based on faulty and now outdated scientific evidence related to shaken baby syndrome. The diagnosis refers to a serious brain injury caused when a child’s head is hurt through shaking or some other violent impact, like being slammed against a wall or thrown on the floor.

Roberson’s supporters don’t deny that head and other injuries from child abuse are real. But they say doctors misdiagnosed Curtis’ injuries as being related to shaken baby syndrome and that new evidence has shown the girl died not from abuse but from complications related to severe pneumonia.

The American Academy of Pediatrics, other medical organizations and prosecutors say the diagnosis is valid and that doctors look at all possible things, including any illnesses, when determining if injuries are attributable to shaken baby syndrome.

The Anderson County District Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted Roberson, has said in court documents that after a 2022 hearing to consider the new evidence in the case, a judge rejected the theories that pneumonia and other diseases caused Curtis’ death.

On Tuesday, an East Texas judge denied requests by Roberson’s attorneys to stop his lethal injection by vacating the execution warrant and recusing the judge who had issued the warrant.

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FILE - Texas lawmakers meet with Robert Roberson at a prison in Livingston, Texas, Sept. 27, 2024. (Criminal Justice Reform Caucus via AP, File)

Montana's Republican governor on Wednesday will face his Democratic challenger in likely their only debate this election season in a state tilting toward the GOP.

Gov. Greg Gianforte at first dismissed Ryan Busse, a former firearms industry executive, as not a “serious candidate” and refused to debate the Democrat because he hadn't released his tax returns.

Busse responded by releasing 10 years of income tax records, setting the stage for the debate hosted by ABC Fox Montana.

Gianforte's election by a wide margin in 2020 — with backing from former President Donald Trump — ended a 16-year run of Democratic governors in Montana.

The wealthy former technology executive spent more than $7.5 million of his own money in the 2020 race, and has since overseen a decrease in individual income taxes and an increase in residential property taxes in Montana.

The state balanced its budget and had record-low unemployment under Gianforte.

He signed laws blocking gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors and limiting access to abortion, but those have been blocked by courts.

A Republican supermajority in the Legislature gave him power to directly appoint judges and justices when mid-term vacancies occur and also funded charter schools, a longtime Gianforte goal.

Busse, who is from Kalispell, has sought to portray Gianforte as wealthy and out of touch with ordinary citizens. He has accused Gianforte of using his personal wealth to reach office and then standing by as housing costs made parts of Montana unaffordable for many.

A former vice president at firearms company Kimber Manufacturing, Busse has said his disagreement with aggressive marketing of military-type assault rifles caused him to exit the gun industry.

Tax returns show Busse and his wife earned about $260,000 annually over the past decade.

Gianforte’s tech career began in New Jersey. He moved to Bozeman in 1995 and founded RightNow technologies, which was eventually sold to software company Oracle for nearly $2 billion.

A criminal case put an early stain on Gianforte's political career. He was charged with a misdemeanor in 2017 when he body-slammed a reporter, but he went on to win a seat in the U.S. House in a special election and won reelection to the seat in 2018.

FILE - Ryan Busse, senior advisor at Giffords Law Center, listens during a House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing, July 27, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File)

FILE - Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte delivers his State of the State address to a joint session of the Montana Senate and House of Representatives, Jan. 25, 2023, inside the state Capitol in Helena, Mont. (Thom Bridge/Independent Record via AP, File)